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Quick Hits – Write in Ron Ford!

Please get your scorecards out for this one folks, because the Aurora Township Democrats, in cahoots with the Kane County Central Party, just tried to pull a fast one. All I can say is, if the Aurora Dems put as much energy into improving Aurora as they do into pointless infighting, losing elections, and generally behaving badly, the City of Light would be a spectacular sight.

But let’s start at the beginning.

Having moved out of the 6th District, Democratic county board member Brian Dahl relinquished his seat on April 7. That meant Chairman Chris Lauzen had to appoint another Democrat to finish his term, and he reached out to former board member Ron Ford to fill the vacancy.

If you recall, Ford served the 6th District from 2008 to 2015 when he stepped down due to work and family obligations. The truth is, done correctly, that purportedly part-time gig can be anything but.

Three years later, with those considerations well in hand, Ford accepted Lauzen’s appointment, and the county board unanimously – Democrats and Republicans alike – approved his return. Considering his capacity to work with just about anyone, that 23 to 0 vote certainly didn’t surprise me at all.

But then a funny thing happened.

Given the timing of his appointment, Ford couldn’t run for re-election the regular nominating paperwork way. He’d have to be “slated” by the Aurora Township Democrats to get on the November ballot, but that’s almost always a formality.

But instead of doing the slating at their August meeting as is customary, this fine group of Democrats decided to move the vote up to the July meeting. And when it came time to notify the precinct committeemen, as required by statute, treasurer Greg Elsbree says he sent a certified letter to all 14 of them and supposedly CC’d Ron, too.

But then a rather strange thing happened, only seven of the PCs received that missive in a timely manner and four didn’t receive it at all. I know the post office can be a difficult proposition, but not even they are capable of a 50 percent certified mail failure rate.

Oddly enough, the seven precinct committeeman who received the notice just happened to be opposed to Ron’s nomination, while those who support him – including all the African-American PCs – were left out in the cold. Nothing racist about that at all!

And despite the fact that he’s the incumbent, Ron wasn’t warned about the impending vote until the day before. Oh! He asked Democratic Chairman Mark Guethle about the nomination process at least three times, but all he got was non-descript answers.

So, let’s tie this up in a neat little bow!

The Aurora Democrats and Guethe don’t like Ron Ford for a number of reasons, the most of which is that he actually gets along with Republicans. You see, what the KC Dems really want to do is turn the county board into just another partisan battleground and Ron isn’t the kind of “true believer” who’d be willing do something that stupid.

That’s all we need, right? Springfield or Washington right here in Kane County!

So, they pulled a fast one to keep a sitting county board member off the ballot. But all is not lost, dear reader! Ron has filed to run as a write-in , and plugging “Ron Ford” into a voting machine is about as easy as it gets.

Ron is the kind of board member that other board members look up to, So, please don’t let the township Democrats and Mark Guethle get away with this kind of unadulterated BS. Write in “Ron Ford” for the 6th Kane County Board District. You’ll be glad you did!

Meanwhile in my KC district, we’ve got the republicans crying about democratic shenanigans, while completely ignoring their own shenanigans which I think were worse. Got a mailing here from friends of Lauzen, about the “fake” independent on the ballot running against “democrat” Anita Lewis. It says don’t be fooled, the dem candidate is Anita, and there is no repub candidate. Uh, wrong. In the dem primary Anita ran against Ishmael, and squeeked out a win and knocking him out of the race. Which of course is what it what was all about in the first place. Anita is a republican. Don’t get me wrong, I like Anita, and in a head-to-head race of repub Anita vs dem Ishmael she would have my vote. But I hate this political sleeziness. (Hmm, I guess putting those two words together is repetitive, isn’t it?)